Navy support ship’s crew praised over drug seizure

More than a tonne of cocaine worth millions has been seized from a speedboat in the Caribbean in an operation involving a Royal Navy crew, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

The 1.25 tonnes of the Class A drug seized last week had a UK wholesale value of more than £60m, but the street value would have been over £300m.

The crew of Royal Fleet Auxiliary naval support ship RFA Wave Knight, along with a US Coast Guard patrol aircraft, forced a speedboat suspected of drug smuggling to stop in international waters south of the Dominican Republic last Wednesday night.

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The Coast Guard helicopter fired warning shots to try to get the boat to stop but when the suspected smugglers were seen throwing the bales of drugs overboard the decision was made to use disabling fire, the MoD said. This allowed Wave Knight to launch its own small boat with a US Coast Guard team to board and question the suspects.

A second boat from Wave Knight recovered 45 bales of cocaine which had been thrown overboard into the water nearby.

Four people were detained on board, and both the cocaine and detainees were handed over to the US authorities off the coast of Puerto Rico.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said: “The crew of RFA Wave Knight should be proud ... made more impressive as it is their second successful operation within a month.”

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